Blind veteran awarded British Empire Medal

We are delighted to announce that one of our blind veterans has been awarded a British Empire Medal by His Majesty The King in the New Year Honours list for his contribution to charitable causes in his local community.

John, from Bridgwater in Somerset, was one of the founding trustees of the Bridgwater Community Hub, which has become an essential support network for veterans and those in the local area.

Through his dedication and commitment, a wide range of activities and events have been established at the hub, including veteran breakfast clubs, young carers groups, and social groups for those displaced by the war in Ukraine.

The Covid-19 pandemic threatened the future of the hub but John saw this as an opportunity to provide different services to the wider community and could regularly be found collecting and delivering prescriptions to housebound individuals.

During the ongoing cost of living crisis, John has worked closely with local retailers to obtain food that would otherwise go to waste, and with a group of volunteers, has been making meals that can be distributed to those who need them.

John joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1973 and, after basic training, served in Germany and Northern Ireland. He left the Army in 1977 to train as a registered nurse, but re-joined during the First Gulf War.

From 1990 he worked in the military hospital in Riyadh, looking after Service men and women who were injured or ill, nursing them back to health, or preparing them for evacuation to the UK.

It was later in life that John had a retinal artery occlusion and abruptly lost his sight. He says: “I woke up unable to see out of my right eye and already had low vision in the left, so I became blind.

“That stopped me from working immediately, I couldn’t drive and I couldn’t see to read. It was a complete and utter nightmare. I bluffed my way through for about four months, but I was in a dark place and quite depressed.”

Luckily John found out about our charity and has been receiving our support ever since. He says: “Blind Veterans UK have helped me so much with equipment and training. They gave me a phone that talks to me, a laptop with a large keyboard, and a device that I can listen to magazines and newspapers on. But the most important thing the charity gives you is the realisation that you can still live independently.”

John is a guide dog user and recently won a court case judgement against a London hotel which refused him a stay because of his guide dog, Sidney. It was his second successful lawsuit following a similar case against a local restaurant.

Evita Gonzalez Lewis, Guide Dogs Partnership Operations Manager, says: “Congratulations to John on his well-deserved award. What John’s done to support his local community is amazing and we’re delighted he’s been recognised in this way. Thank you to Blind Veterans UK for nominating him.

“We know what a huge contribution John makes, including as a vocal campaigner who’s spoken out when he’s encountered illegal access refusals with his guide dog, helping to highlight this important issue.”